Eugene Coste builds a 270-km (168-mi.) long pipeline, one of the longest and largest pipelines at that time, to carry Bow Island gas to Calgary and Lethbridge.

Natural gas wet with condensate is first discovered in the Cretaceous level at Turner Valley with the Dingman No. 1 well by Calgary Petroleum Products, the company originally founded by William Stewart Herron.

The Canadian federal government transfers control of natural gas and other natural resources to the provincial Government of Alberta through the Natural Resources Transfer Acts of 1930.

In December 1929, Mackenzie King signs natural resources transfer agreement prior to the passage of legislation in 1930. Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, A10924

Oil and Gas Resources Conservation Act becomes law, and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Conservation Board, now the Energy Utilities Board, is formed as the regulatory authority for all gas and oil operations.

An Act for the Conservation of the Oil and Gas Resources of the Province of Alberta Source: The Oil and Gas Conservation Act, SA 1938, c. 15

The largest gas reservoir in Canada at the time of discovery, the Jumping Pound field becomes a symbol of the need to resolve the stalemate over whether or not Alberta should export its natural gas; without adequate markets, it remains shut in until 1951.

Efforts to promote natural gas as a safe, clean alternative to coal help the market expand rapidly, and large-scale processing and pipeline projects are constructed to serve the growing market.

But of course! Gas The Modern Fuel! In the years following World War II, the development and use of natural gas skyrockets due, in part, to rigorous marketing. Source: City of Edmonton Archives, EA-275-1776

In 1952, facilities in both Turner Valley and Jumping Pound begin to convert the toxic hydrogen sulfide in sour gas into benign elemental sulfur, and by the 1970s Canada becomes the largest exporter of sulfur in the world.

The Lodgepole sour gas blowout smells up the air for weeks, highlighting a growing conflict between the desire for economic development and the need to safeguard the public.

As conventional sources of natural gas have matured and declined, the industry has increasingly focused its efforts on developing unconventional gas resources such as shale gas, tight gas and coal bed methane.

Turner Valley, Phase One

It was the Turner Valley reservoir that first earned Alberta the reputation of being a major center for the production of natural gas and oil. Although perhaps small in size, this field played a huge role in the development of the province’s petroleum industry.

Turner Valley was the focus of Alberta’s petroleum activity for three decades and experienced three distinct phases of production. The first phase lasted from 1914 to 1923 when the production was limited to natural gas with a small amount of condensate. The second phase, from 1924 through 1935, was ushered in by a change in management and corresponded to the first significant

oil production. The third phase, from 1936 to 1947, witnessed the field’s peak oil production.

The first phase began in May 1914 when Calgary Petroleum Product (CPP) discovery well, Dingman No. 1, blew in with wet, naphtha-soaked gas. A short-lived but intense period of speculation followed but soon stalled as people realized their expectations were overblown. Despite continued exploration—two additional wells drilled over the next nine years—CPP never found the oil that W. S. Herron and A. W. Dingman were both convinced was there. CPP wells continued to produce primarily natural gas with naphtha condensate, a petroleum product with a limited market.

The possibilities suggested by the CPP discovery continued to inspire other explorers in the Turner Valley field, yet even by 1920 only nine successful wells had been drilled. Turner Valley remained a difficult exploration zone, located as it is in the foothills, which necessitates deep drilling through irregular formations. In the years to come, additional petroleum producing fields in Alberta would be discovered, but most were small producers. Thus, Turner Valley remained a large producer in a small industry.

Turner Valley influenced the petroleum industry in other ways as well. As it is

located just southwest of Calgary, that city became the industry’s administrative centre within the province, even after the significant Leduc discovery outside of Edmonton. Numerous international companies maintain their managerial offices in Calgary, as does the Alberta Energy Regulator (formerly the Energy Resources Conservation Board). The Alberta Energy Regulator also has its origin in Turner Valley as it was the waste of natural gas there through flaring that caused its original establishment. Furthermore, Turner Valley provided the training ground where many developed the expertise that would lead to other discoveries in years to come.

But before that, disaster struck. In 1920, an explosion incinerated the CPP plant, which paved the way for the entry of Imperial Oil, the largest petroleum firm in Canada in 1920 and the Canadian arm of the American giant, Standard Oil. Imperial’s arrival represented a double-edge sword: it had the ability to support

the exploration that could prove the value of investing in Turner Valley, and yet it also had the ability to buy out many of the independents who had pioneered that investment in what would go on to become the largest petroleum field in the British Empire.